Bill Gates: Energy Innovation

The possibility of harnessing the sun in the immense desert of Sahara has been mentioned by many. The Sahara Solar Breeder Project has been presented by Japanese-Algerian universities as a plan to to build silicon manufacturing plants, and solar power plants, in a way that their products are used in a “breeding” manner to build more and more such plants. With a goal to provide 50% of the world’s electricity by 2050, using super-conductors to deliver the power to distant locations. Image as a concept for the Sahara Forest Project: a solution to create re-vegetation and green jobs through profitable production of food, water, clean electricity and biomass in desert areas.

Fora TV presents Bill Gates, who reflects on the future of nuclear power in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster in Japan. “Software simulation changes the game,” argues Gates, highlighting the advantage of being able to virtually test new designs before building them. Gates underlines the importance of substituting energy innovation, for these being able to compete with cheap but dirty fossil fuels such as coal or gas.

With the current situation and recent warnings on a more probable and much worse global warming scenario – energy innovation and our solutions for the future both global, domestic and on a personal level – are imperative and cannot be overstated.

On a positive note, Gates concludes that:

The amount of IQ of working with alternate energy today and the kind of tools they have, compared to 20 years ago, are really night and day.

Nuclear 4th generation fission reactors, thorium reactors or perhaps fusion reactors as future energy sources? Or wind, wave, hydro, and solar power, in combinations. Whatever the answer is, innovation is the key for the future both environmentally and economically.